A practical evaluation of micro-hydrokinetic power potential for the Continental United States

Abstract

Study region: Continental United States (CONUS) Study focus: Micro-hydrokinetic turbines are hydropower turbines that can utilize the current of the river to generate power without constructing a dam. Recent advances in micro-hydrokinetic turbine technology have made their use an attractive alternative to traditional hydropower systems that require the construction of a dam. In this paper, we introduce a novel and practical analysis of continental to global scale hydrology and hydraulics that we use to assess continental United States (CONUS) stream locations with optimum hydraulic characteristics for an example micro-hydrokinetic turbine (Volturnus). We then utilize the boundaries of CONUS military installations to determine installations possessing the greatest potential to utilize the Volturnus. New hydrological insights for the region: For the Volturnus, our results indicate that although less than 1% of CONUS stream locations possess the hydraulic characteristics necessary for the Volturnus to function optimally, this translates into roughly 224–544 million kWh per week, considerably less than previous estimates of CONUS theoretical and recoverable power but substantial, nonetheless. Around 26–40 CONUS military installations possess streams that are sometimes capable of producing hydropower with the Volturnus and 12–20 of those military installations possess optimum hydraulic conditions for the Volturnus year round. In our analysis, reducing either the minimum velocity or minimum depth threshold of the Volturnus nearly double the proportion of CONUS locations with optimum Volturnus hydraulic characteristics.

Keywords

• Hydropower
• Hydrology
• Hydraulics
• Streamflow
• Geographic information systems
• Energy resources